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Members of the Jamaica Handball Federation (JHF) visited the G.C. Foster College on Tuesday February 12, 2019 to promote the sport of Handball. Oery Warren, Chairman of the federation stated that their intentions were to collaborate with the College in order to train coaches and P.E. teachers in the sport. He also indicated the need for the sport to be played in Jamaica on a wider scale, thus developing it to a level for Jamaica to compete at the Olympic games. He spoke to their missions, which is to develop the sport in high schools, primary schools and on a community level. The federation, which started in 2007, has garnered the assistance of Head Coach, Keven Decaux and assistant coach, Samir Bidah who are both from Brazil.

For years, coaches who wanted to be certified in advanced coaching and programme writing had to go to the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sports in order to do so. However, though GC Foster's partnership with the Sam Sharpe Teachers' College and the Bethlehem Moravian College, in collaboration with the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), the short course was brought to the coaches in the rural area.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the first batch of 34 graduates, programme coordinator Steve Davis applauded the initiative that he believes was a success.

"I have seen where people have left from Montego Bay to come to GC Foster College to do a course, so it was needed," Davis said. "GC Foster College, Sam Sharpe Teachers' College, and Bethlehem Moravian College have worked together in making this happen."

Davis credited acting principal and track and field head coach at GC Foster College Maurice Wilson, whose vision, which saw them also collaborating with the JOA, has done well for the eight-week course. Davis is hoping that they can continue to produce more graduates who will impact the growth and development of sports in Jamaica, especially in the rural area.

GREATER COLLABORATION

"It came about through the principal, Mr Wilson's, influence," he said. "The idea behind it is to have a greater recognition of the programme writing, which is very important to track and field training and sports training as a whole. With the involvement of the JOA, we are hoping that in the future, the collaboration will become greater in other areas of the programme, not just the advanced coaching and programme writing aspect.

"The batches at Sam Sharpe and Bethlehem are done. However, what we need is to have strong marketing to get more people involved and for the graduates to spread the word around, in social media also, and so on. At GC Foster College, most people are aware of what we do there, so they come to us for the programmes. So, as long as we have a cohort of 15 people or more, we start a programme, and we tailor it to suit the students," he added.

Amid the crime and violence that the country is facing, some members of the Boys and Girls Production in Annotto Bay, St Mary, have decided to try to help young people deal with their anger through a movie they produced called 'Mother Cry'.

As Tadrea Davis, the director, explains, the 90-minute movie, that a young man finds himself in a gang that has negative impacts on his life and the lives of his family.

It is only through the death of one of his family members that he tries to find a way out.

Davis explains that the movie, which was shot in his hometown of Annotto Bay, will be released on January 5, 2019, and that persons will be able to go to the theatre in the town or the Annotto Bay Primary School to enjoy the local production.

"Here in Annotto Bay, we are trying to get back to the place where we can sit in the theatre we have here and watch a movie as a community, not having to worry about gunshots or any form of bad thing happening to us," Davis said.

He said that people are fearful in Annotto Bay because of killings there, but they want a safer environment for the residents in and around the community, and they think this is a good way to get things going.

Last month, Annotto Bay recorded four murders in less than 48 hours, and this is the issue that Davis said the community is battling.

Overall, St Mary has seen an increase in murders as 32 persons have been killed, compared to 22 at the same time last year.

"We not only want to help youths deal with crime, but also to help with developing the community," he said.

For Davis, it takes people to build and make a community great, and that is the aim of the members of the Boys and Girls Production.

The production group started back in 2007 and is now controlled by Davis, Nicar Clegon, Santana Reid, and Ricardo Cousin.

The production is said to be going strong, and it is projects like these that they use to try bringing people together.

"The community is very supportive of us because they like the peace and they do not like when there is too much shooting. So, we try as best as possible to keep the peace by involving community members and youths in these projects," he said.